Fullerenes consist of 60 carbon atoms bonded together and were the first molecule synthesized that had a perfect spherical shape. Fullerenes were first discovered in 1985. Uses for fullerenes are expanding into many areas. For example, alkali metal-doped C.sub.60 are high temperature superconductors with temperature ranging from 10.degree. K. to 35.degree. K. C.sub.60 has shown to have strong optical limiting properties. Under high pressure, C.sub.60 transforms into diamonds. Ion bombarded fullerenes can increase the nucleation of CVD diamond by 10 orders of magnitude.
A problem with some known processes are that some are limited to producing only several grams of C.sub.60 /C.sub.70 mixture per day and require value-added products such as graphite. Under the carbon arc method, carbon is vaporized with the heat from an electrical arc, fullerene molecules along with graphite carbon molecules are then condensed and collected as solid soot material. The fullerenes can then be purified by extracting the soot with an appropriate solvent followed by evaporation of the solvent to yield the solid fullerene material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,038 to Smalley et al. describes such a method. Fullerenes have also been made by a process involving vaporizing carbon from a rotating disk of graphite into a helium flow using a focussed laser since 1985, as described by Kroto et at. in an article entitled "C.sub.60 : Buckminsteffullerene", Nature, vol. 318, Nov. 14, 1985, pages 162-163.